Swedish feminist party gains new poll ground

Share this article

April saw Sweden's Feminist Initiative (Fi) party add another percentage point to its voter support, edging closer to the parliamentary threshold just days after 52 percent of Swedes said they'd like to see the upstart party in government.

A new Expressen/Demoskop poll from April showed that Fi had reached 3 percent of voter support, up by 2.2 percentage points from the last Demoskop poll and about one percentage point from an earlier poll by Ipsos.

Demoskop chief analyst Peter Santesson said that Fi was likely plucking supporters from the Left Party, which, he said, "had lost a bit of its feminist profile". Santesson also said parties stood to benefit from charismatic leadership, in Fi's case Gudrun Schyman who was previously an MP and leader of the Left Party.

A separate Demoskop poll showed that 52 percent of Swedish voters would like Fi to cooperate with a RedGreen government if the opposition takes over after the September elections, while 46 percent said the upstart party should also be given a voice in government if the current coalition clings to power.

Story continues below…

The RedGreens currently has 51 percent of voter support. The government has 36.8 percent.